Naofumi Quits Being A Hero
by Diluation
Summary: Upon being told that people thought he didn't know much of the world, Naofumi brought forth his knowledge of the world from the book he read, exposing Malty before she got to do anything. Now the heroes quit working for Melromarc? Oh, and he somehow ended up in massive amounts of debt. Guess the shield is for hire, because now Naofumi has to struggle his way out of debt.
1. Nope!

I walked up the stairs with the other three as I looked outside, admiring the new world before me. It was a simple, yet seemingly marvelous Victorian Era styled world, as I looked out from within the castle windows. Or maybe hidden dungeons, as the windows had bars on them instead. "This must truly be another world, huh?" I couldn't help but comment, giddy for the new adventure that was to come our way. "Air feels as clean as the travel brochures love to say. Well, if they were multi-dimensional travel brochures."

"You never been outside of Japan?" The boy with the bow called out from up the stairs.

"No. But you can tell it too, right? How the air is perfectly untouched. You know, not polluted?" I couldn't help but point out to them, causing them to look in confusion at me.

"I don't sense much of a difference." The guy with the sword said with a shrug. "Just another standard Mediterranean climate."

I couldn't help but huff at that. "Well, believe what you want. But I'm telling you, the air is so unbelievably clean here without that general air pollution. Almost makes me wish to stay here forever."

The dude with the spear and blonde couldn't help but smirk at me for that comment. "You mean the pretty girls we'll meet around this new world aren't enough?"

"Ok playboy," I fired back in mock annoyance, as I walked up the stairs. "Just don't come running to me if you get a yandere with a knife."

To my and the other two's surprise, we saw him flinch at that, rubbing a spot on his body as his face turned into a frown. I ended up pausing at the sight, before continuing on. In retrospect, I really should've taken him for a Chad with the blonde hair and smug attitude back there.

"So you've died too, huh?" The boy with the bow couldn't help but comment. "I'd say we are in the same boat, but umm... I don't really-"

"Let's just change the subject." The blonde interrupted, as he kept on walking. The bow and sword followed suit, and I decided to keep up with them as the conversation seemed to have finally gotten to the introductory part. "I'm guessing everyone here was brought to this world?"

"Truck." The bow kid said immediately in response to the question.

"Defended a friend. Not sure if they made it." The sword said after a moment of consideration.

Damnit, they're all bland, and I have nothing similar to them. "Book."

"Oh." The three of them all collectively said as they turned to look at me torn between a mixture of relief and jealousy.

"Yeah... not the best way to go." I commented as we kept moving along in silence. Which, only lasted a few seconds.

"Wait, you died to a book!?" The bow almost yelled out, as he turned to look at me while we were walking. "Did someone like, throw one at you or something?"

"Well actually, a bunch of books did fall on top of my head as I was trying to read, but-"

"Ok, that's gotta be pretty rough then." The blonde guy cringed at the notion of what I was saying. "How long were you hospitalized? I completely understand as some of that stuff can be pretty heavy."

"Ok, you guys need to hold up a second here. He didn't finish." The sword cut in, stopping the stream of ideas and pity coming out of the two. I breathed a sigh of relief for my newfound buddy in this unfamiliar world.

"Thanks, uh..." I ended up trailing off, just now realizing we hadn't shared our names. The three realized it quickly and pulled up a short and quick introduction for themselves.

"Ren."

"Itsuki."

"Motoyasu."

"Naofumi. Nice to meet you all." I said with a smile. "And for the record, no, I didn't die by a book. I was sucked into one that I was reading. It just started flipping pages on its own, and now I'm here. It's seemingly familiar to what's going on now though."

The three nodded along. "Well regardless, we're here now. Once we coerce the King into giving us our own reward for the hard work, we'll just go home." Itsuki laid down the plan as if it was something that was on all our minds. I just simply held a poker face at the idea of returning home. "Though I don't think Motoyasu is willing to return."

Motoyasu-Chad crossed his arms. "Oh come on guys! I only really care about saving the world... and maybe getting a new girlfriend." He quickly added that last bit under his breath, but instead of going unnoticed, it definitely went noticed. It was so well noticed by me in fact, that I had to quickly hide the grimace on my face as he turned to look at me. "Say, you didn't seem interested in asking for a reward back there, Naofumi. You got any ideas of what you want?"

I hummed in thought, as I wondered what I could want. "I guess I'll just wait until I see what the future has to offer. Felt fine just laying around reading and watching stuff." A thought then struck me in regards to the book I was reading.

The bitch from the book.

I looked myself over to see if the book was on me to see if I could quickly read it again to immediately figure out who she was, as I regretted skimming through the book. No signs of it.

"Actually, after the whole introduction thing with the King, I think I'm going to hit up some books tonight..."

* * *

"We've gathered the greatest warriors across the land. These brave souls will fight the waves alongside you across the land." The King said as armed men and women came before them, looking as if they were ready for the challenges to come. I couldn't help but be impressed, they looked like they were armed to the teeth! Maybe being a shield hero wouldn't be so bad after all! Especially if I get that smoking hot babe!

...I think she just looked at me.

Ok, so how does this work? Do we just point and choose and take turns doing so? Are the party members pre-chosen as to fit our respective weapons? I could honestly go with anything all things considered, except other shield users. The other three though would need at least some kind of defense. I mean, the defense would be weak, but surely there'd be some benefit to it all later on, right? I bet shield users would be needed to fend off an armada of arrows or fend off the breath of dragons! ...Actually that wouldn't work realistically as the breath would go past me.

Wait, what am I doing questioning what's essentially video game logic in this world? Ugh, I probably should've gotten a bit more sleep. Stupid me being too excited about making the best out of this new life, even to the point of staying up all night to find out who are the princesses in this world...

"Our future champions!" The king just bellowed his order to the group of warriors in front of us. "The time has come to begin your journey!"

Oh shoot, they're walking right at us now! So this is really pre-made! Aw man, thanks King! I'll be sure to drop this whole 'yo!' thing if this works out.

I closed my eyes in nervous excitement for what was to come. This was it! In just a few moments, I'll receive my party members! I don't even care if it'll be all girls or not, I'll make the best of my weak class and show that I still have some value! And all the while, I'll have my party members to thank for it!

I opened my eyes as soon as I heard the movement stop and looked behind me... Motoyasu has 3 girls... Itsuki a party of four... Ren 5...

"Yo King!" I called out in concern.

"I loathe to admit that even I didn't expect this." The king said almost immediately, as some a-hole said I must've had zero charisma. Not like no amount of charisma in the world would get him a girl anyhow, due to how big that nose is. Then somebody else whispered in the King's ear, causing him to nod and close his eyes. "I've been made aware of an unsettling rumor."

"Something wrong sir?" Motoyasu asked, ready to fight whatever threat that was interrupting this meeting at the time.

"Not exactly. The rumor that is quickly spreading around town is that the so-called shield hero is ignorant of this world."

Whoa whoa whoa, that's not entirely true! That's not even close to it at all! Who the heck went and gossiped about us?!

"There must've been someone eavesdropping..." Motoyasu became captain obvious for a split second, as he scratched his chin in thought. Thanks a lot, dude, I definitely couldn't figure that out!

"Excuse me king?" I called out, but he seemed to ignore me, prattling on about something else. I then looked to Ren, jabbing him a bit. "Ren, can you get his attention?"

"Excuse me sir, Naofumi has something to say." Ren cut the king off, forcing him to pay attention to me once more, being slightly irritated as a result.

"I just want to point out that while the rumors aren't entirely true, they aren't false either as I also have future knowledge of what'll happen to us."

This instantly piqued everyone's interest, including the other three that came with me, with Itsuki immediately piping up. "Oh, is that cause of the book thing that brought you here? Did you by chance see any information regarding our legend?"

"But such knowledge may never be the case, and could've just been fake text meant to draw you in." Ren couldn't help but add. "What threats did you find that could present a potential game-ending consequence to us all?"

"Still kinda miffed you got off easy by the way... half of us were stabbed y'know." I overheard Motoyasu mutter in slight envy of my arrival, but I didn't feel the need to address it at the time as I then proceeded to continue.

"While the book I came from said a decent enough portion about this world to help me gain a decent understanding of the world, it also presented valuable information that may be necessary to use now." I said as I looked towards the other three's party members. "The book spoke of a princess that'll manipulate us, though never defined where or when she'll appear. I read earlier last night when I was having trouble sleeping, that this place has two as of this very moment, so I think it'd be best if we kept your daughters out of our parties.."

Almost instantly after I mentioned a princess that'll manipulate us, the three went on edge, looking at all their party members for any potential similarities to the king. That was until one of them outright spoke up. "I believe that you two must find yourselves thinking of my sister at this very moment."

No it can't be... the hottie from earlier is stepping up?

"Malty? What are you doing in there?"

"I apologize, father, for not making it public knowledge. I didn't think much of joining their parties, and forgot to let you know." Malty clarified, before turning to me. "It could be that my younger sister is-"

"Don't believe you." Ren immediately cut in, causing Malty to pause and look at him as if he had slapped her. In response, Ren just casually continued. "Not only did you decide to join one of our parties, but you also didn't tell us you were a princess before-hand. You're also immediately shifting the blame onto someone else, a common tactic for the accused to get away with whatever they're planning. All in all, your story is hard to believe, and you most likely don't have noble intentions because you didn't rush to come to Naofumi's side when there was no one with him."

"And your little sister no less?" Itsuki couldn't help but be offended by how she immediately went and did that. "That's just plain wrong."

Malty looked like she was slapped not twice, but thrice, as the crowd began to murmur. Before Motoyasu tried to speak up and defend her, seeing as she was being ganged up on, Malty spoke first. "I-I'm simply trying to show I'm not malicious! I truly thought that somebody else would see the wrong, and I wouldn't have to move from my choice!"

"But you still didn't do it immediately." Ren pointed out. "His charisma stats may be extremely low, but your care for the country should've been enough to not care about something like that. He should've been your first pick, just in case he wasn't given one."

Alright, Ren, I liked you at first, but now you're officially the same person as that guy.

"Hey, what are these strange amulets everyone is holding..." Itsuki couldn't help but let out in suspicion of something bigger here, as he looked to the people for their own opinion regarding Malty. "Is there a religion that's the leading cause of all this?"

"Enough!" The king yelled out, causing everyone in the room to fall silent. "It seems the heroes cannot trust our princesses due to the circumstances of how the shield hero got here. I will put down the rumor that is saying you know little of this world, and will instead just send out some-"

"Alright, I'mma head out." I said without letting the king finish speaking, much to the shock of everyone in the room.

"Wait, you're leaving?!" Motoyasu began to sputter in shock, unable to process the whole situation. "W-what, what about saving the world?! Y-you live on this too now!"

"I could just return home instead, seeing as the odds are heavily stacked against me. Bad class, nobody trustworthy willing to join my party, and I can't even fend for myself here. I was actually better off back home." I then looked to the King once more. "But I'm willing to bet that I can't go back to that, can I? Considering that they died and still got here."

The king expressed shock at how quickly I figured it out, before looking down solemnly. The other heroes widened their eyes, the whole situation making sense to them, and realizing what I was forced to leave behind.

"Now this is injustice!" Itsuki called out in anger. "I can understand us being unable to, but not even Naofumi can return home? Someone who hadn't even died?!"

"This is just plain disgusting..." Ren couldn't help but mutter as he stared at the king as if he was little more than bandit scum.

Motoyasu was silent, only staring at Malty in pity as the crowd became unruly. Some were throwing insults at me for some odd reason,

"Look, clearly you all don't want me here," I said calmly as I came to the doorway. "So how about you send the other three on their way to be heroes, and-"

"If he leaves, I leave." Itsuki swiftly follows up, not willing to let me leave and causing me to pause at the realization that they were forcing me to stick with them.

"Same here." Ren joined the bandwagon almost immediately. "What is happening to one of us is an injustice. He may be a weak link, but he doesn't deserve to be treated in such a manner, especially when he cannot go back home. If he doesn't get the party members and armor he needs, then I shall leave myself."

"Goddamnit guys, now I can't leave and just do farm work or something!" I almost yelled out in annoyance. "You lot still need to fend off the waves, remember?"

This caused the two of them to pause for a moment as they looked at me again. Ren quickly came up with something to say, though. "We all came from different Japans... but we never spoke of which one was the best class in our Japans."

"Who cares, honestly?" I waved them off as if it wasn't a big deal. "If the nation doesn't want me, then I'll just settle down... seriously, I appreciate the attempt, but it's better for me to just blend in."

I then left the castle without another word spoken to them, aiming to enjoy a new life just helping out the townsfolk. Rumors had it that the other heroes had decided that, while my mistreatment was uncalled for, they still had a duty to perform. However, if Melromarc was to ever come under attack by the waves or another nation, they would refuse to defend the city, seeing as its king, princess, and church were corrupt, and would also refuse to take orders.

I myself, just decided to maintain a low profile for the upcoming weeks ahead by remaining hidden in a town. While I was noticed a lot and given looks of pity by the townsfolk, I didn't pay them much mind and just resorted to helping others in a non-violent way. As a result of this whole fiasco, I was given slightly more pay than usual for my odd jobs, and inns often offered to let me stay for free just in case I couldn't pay. I never took them up on the offers, as I couldn't bring myself to possibly take advantage of such good deals when I was already in a decent enough position as it was.

I eventually did meet up with the other three heroes again when they stopped by the village to find out where I was. Motoyasu looked very happy to see that the townsfolk had been treating me well, while Ren and Itsuki talked about the various monsters they had come to slain, as well as their loot. Ren had lamented that his party members couldn't 'make the cut' as he put it, and had to let them go from his party because they were holding him back, though was wanting to drop them off on me as another effort to get me back into the fight.

Itsuki seemed to be more focused on having been beating back the bandits as of the late, stating he just recently took care of a bandit chief that was causing trouble. Oddly enough, nobody knew that he had actually done it, as I had never heard of the townsfolk speak of his deeds.

Motoyasu in particular though, was pretty much in the position I expected him to be from the start. Lucky bastard managed to get himself another harem of girls, some of which I swear looked to be a little too young to fight off the waves with him, and he spoke of how nice they all were, if not slightly troublesome due to their antics. He said that the small mage with him was obsessed with explosion magic, and that the other party member he had with him was a healer with a lot of party tricks up her sleeves. It was rather amusing to hear about how the little girl's battle attire was mostly red and brown, and got me to think of some stuff I saw in hentai. I had to restrain myself from giggling and joking about how eerily similar the outfit looked to be.

But even then... things tended to get boring and lonely. No longer had I the pleasure of images in my books, or the easy access to talking with what few otaku friends I had consistently. I didn't even have my mom or dad to talk to, and while I did have friends... I never truly felt whole. Satisfied.

Like I was missing out on something big these last two weeks, because I did nothing but do odd jobs and grind those orange balloon mobs.

Then one day, I was approached by a small man in what seems to be a circus outfit who 'accidentally' bumped into me with some rather expensive stuff. I found out later as we talked that he originally planned to kidnap me and make me a slave by forcing me into debt, because I would be very valuable as one of the four legendary heroes being under someone's beck and call.

But after seeing my business sense, he decided that, in trade for making me a slave, he would instead just let me go and put me in high levels of debt. At first, the demand for pay would be low, but as time would go on, it would become higher and higher. Seeing as I had little options, as I guessed he was either stronger than he looked or had allies in the shadows, I begrudgingly accepted, though asked if I could get a slave to start with. He presented me with the cheapest ones, as that was all I could afford at the time.

One in particular caught my eye. She was a small tanuki girl, only level one, and was sick and weak, had nightmares on a consistent basis. She had long, unmanaged hair and a dirty cloth gown, a problem I intended to fix if I chose to buy her. Compared to the other options though, such as the demi-human with the genetic disorder, and the overpriced slave that was level 75 and cost a ton of gold, she was the only one that I could pick at that time.

I cringed a bit in what I was about to force her into, hoping that things would work out for the best. I don't want to sound like some typical villain, but it was very much likely she'd work by my side considering how young she was. Young minds are easy to influence after all, and so I'd have to be careful as to not give her any ideas... as well as protect her innocence until she was fully matured. The only issues were no longer making her sick, and stopping the nightmares.

In short, treat her like a daughter.

As soon as we left the underground slave house, I turned to her with a half-confident, half nervous-wreck smile and said while staring her in the eyes. "You wouldn't happen to wanna do some mercenary work with the shield hero, would you?"


	2. Time To Be A Merc!

My newfound slave girl looked at me as if I had grown a second head, her tail going rigid as she stared at me in shock and disbelief. She must've did a complete 360 and then some, because the first thing she did was stare at me in disbelief, then point at my shield, then at my face, take a step back- aaand now she's fainting.

Crap!

I rushed forth to stop her from falling, barely managing to stop her from falling onto the ground. She still went unconscious however, and thus I had to pick her up in a bridal position. Once my initial panic washed over me, it then dawned on me how the whole situation looked like to everyone around me... which was essentially no one, since I have to account for my slave. I waited a few moments after I took cover in a alleyway, waiting for the slave girl to wake up.

When she did, she once more spotted me, and recalled what had just happened. "This... this isn't a dream, is it?"

"Well," I started off jokingly. "Like me to pinch ya?"

That made her flinch, and cause her to lose a bit of trust in me. I laughed nervously, forgetting that this was a little girl who probably had bad stuff happen to her while she was enslaved. Or had already been abused. Actually, I should just be asking small questions now.

"S-sorry about that, I was just joking..." I then cleared my throat. "What's your name? I know you're a slave, but I'd much rather treat you like a person considering the circumstances."

"...U-um, my name's Raphtalia." She then rubbed her arm a bit in small discomfort. "What of you, master?"

"Naofumi. Naofumi Iwatani" I said, as I then helped her onto her feet. She stumbled a bit, but was otherwise able to keep herself up. "And please drop the master thing. I don't find it endearing."

"Yes mast- I mean Naofumi." Raphtalia quickly corrected, disguising the mistake with a cough, until she actually coughed immediately after. "Sorry, I'm still quite sick..."

Well, it's a good thing I went and gotten myself to be quite adept in making medicine , and that I've leveled up enough to safely gather medicine... in most cases anyhow. Damn that red balloon! "Don't worry, I got medicine that can help with that. We'll need to wander about outside to gather the materials to craft it though, which means fighting." I then handed her a small dagger, a weapon I carried around whenever there was danger, and I had one other person with me that was capable of fighting. Very low quality and was more blunt than sharp, but it was something. "Think you could handle the task ahead of us? We might not just be fighting balloons after this."

Raphtalia looked to be in some serious thought, her face contorted in a mixture of fear, and newfound hope for her own life. She looked to be torn between simply asking to be let free even though I'd just have to sell her back, and taking the chance in front of her. I hoped to whatever gods or deities that were watching me at the time that she'd make the right choice, as I held my breath in wait.

"Even the Heroes of our country needed us to fight for them, as they kept us safe." Raphtalia said, as she once more met my eyes. "If you're truly who you say you are..."

"I am." I once more asserted.

"Then please, Naofumi." Raphtalia said as she took the dagger, her grasp shaking as she held the weapon. "Please help me become the warrior you need to fight the waves."

I smiled and nodded at her in relief. "Thank you, Raphtalia. Though we won't have to-"

"-You mean the Shield Hero was just here?" I heard a voice speak my name, causing me to look outside the alleyway. Raphtalia followed suit out of slight fear and curiosity. There was a man dressed in robes out there, looking like one of those typical wizard characters you see in MMORPGs. Except this didn't look like a man who wanted to be an adventurer, as he lacked a wizard's hat. A noble perhaps?

The man in the circus outfit, Beloukas, nodded. "Why yes, he left not a few moments ago. Quite strange that he appears to be gone already." Beloukas then hummed in thought, as he then considered something. "You know, for the price of 10 silver, I could-"

"I'd much rather not I'm afraid." The noble shook his head. "It would be unwise to betray his trust by having his newfound companion alert us to their position. My goal is to simply document things. If the Shield Hero has gained a slave, then I'll just have to be a conscious objector against the catastrophes ahead. That is, provided I find them."

"Oh ho..." Beloukas rubbed his chin in thought. "And what if you don't get to travel alongside the other heroes?"

"The Shield Hero seems the most likely in all regards to accept, provided I don't betray him." The noble replied back almost automatically. "Judging from the recent actions from the other heroes, two out of the three are still idiots, while one is just insufferable. I wouldn't want to travel alongside a man who only thinks of indulging in things, nor a self-righteous hero and wanna-be tough guy. Someone with a shield would have to be more humble than them."

I narrowed my eyes at that. They aren't that bad! Sure, Motoyasu is a harem-loving arse, and Itsuki seems like kind of an idiot, but at least they're still doing the job! I've literally been doing nothing else but sitting on my butt letting them grind up!

"ACHOO!"

Suddenly, both Beloukas and the noble whipped their heads around to see us. The man spotted my shield, as well as the cuffs on Raphtalia, as we both stood there like deer in headlights. The man himself quickly made the deduction, as he quickly grew slightly worried, yet elated to see me. Beloukas however, immediately frowned at Raphtalia, before looking to me. "My good boy, is the girl already being a problem? I hadn't even heard any screams!"

"U-um, no sir. She had a bit of a panic attack and passed out..." I awkwardly replied as I kept my eyes on the stranger who then neared me.

"That's troublesome, yet fortunate considering the circumstances." The noble said, as he then held out his hand once in a close enough distance to do so. I managed to spot the handle of a sword, though there was no blade. "I would assume that is but your cheapest choice? You don't have to say you already tried the townsfolk, I could understand precisely why you went ahead and did this in secret."

"I-I never thought about it actually." I said as I scratched the back of my head. "What do you even want from me anyways, Mr...?"

"Formalities are unnecessary, though I question your intelligence levels since your action here was unintentional." The noble said as he cleared his throat. "My goal here is simple, Mr. Naofumi. I am here to simply document your journey, as well as get your story on what happened in the King's Court. You will not have to worry about feeding or watching out for me, and I shall only prove to be beneficiary by providing you knowledge of the world."

"But I-"

"I do understand that the book that brought you here gave you knowledge of this world, as well as future knowledge." The noble interrupted. "But let's be frank here, you don't remember it, do you?"

I stood speechless as I tried to think up some rather obscure details, only to find myself growing shorter and shorter on details until I realized that I don't remember even half of what the book talked about. This caused the man to smile victoriously.

"Then I think we both know this is a deal only beneficiary to you." The noble said, as he pulled out a book of sorts, writing in it as he spoke very quickly. "And should you find me a nuisance, while it would probably be unwise to let me go, I will leave in peace should you desire as well as keep your legend out of the book even though it would ultimately be pointless as someone else would document you. Do you find these terms acceptable?"

"I... what?" I couldn't help but let out, uncertain as to what he even said.

"Naofumi, this man is weird..." Raphtalia said, as she seemed to be intimidated by the noble's sudden intrusion.

The noble didn't seem to mind, as he then cleared his throat, as if waiting for a response. I folded my arms in response. "Shouldn't you introduce yourself first?"

The noble merely grunted. "Fine. Since you drive a hard bargain, my name is Luek, a historian who's been studying the history of both Melromarc and Siltvelt."

"Siltvelt?" Raphtalia couldn't help but suddenly speak up out of pure curiosity. "Why Siltvelt?"

"We shall save the topic for later use, now." Suddenly, a notification box appeared on my screen, asking if a 'Luek, The Historian' could join my party with minimal experience share. Oddly enough, the noble had rather high stats for someone who just seemed like the average noble. He himself was at least level 35, along with a wide arrange of skills and high stats for his level to boot.

I couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. "And you don't want to fight alongside us instead?"

"It's hard to write in the heat of the moment." Luek idly replied back, and it was hard to argue the point he brought up for me. Seeing as I could do little else, I pressed the check box and saw him join my party. When he saw this, he bowed in respect. "Thank you, Naofumi. I shall bring my knowledge up for use whenever you need it."

"Well, hasn't this just been a lovely exchange?" Beloukas said with a chuckle, catching our attention as we turned to him. "However, time's wasting out there kiddos. Every second is a copper lost!"

"Indeed. We have much to talk about if everything I've gathered so far is true about you." Luek said, as he began walking. "Follow me. I know a place that'll accept demi-humans, and a store with clothes for her to wear."

* * *

As Luek led us on, I first pressed him for information regarding all the countries and their backgrounds, of which he gave to me as if it was the most natural thing in the world, while also adding in a couple other details that even got Raphtalia interested in the other countries. The historian's knowledge seemed to be quite extensive, especially between that of Melromarc and Siltvelt, the latter of which he seemed to note with a lot of disdain. I wanted to chalk it up to him being some kind of racist, but he seemed to treat Raphtalia rather nicely, treating her and me to a rather expensive meal, her's in particular having Shieldfrieden's flag. Apparently the man was quite rich, and had been trading all across the land while optimally managing his wealth.

The tale of the mercenaries that traveled with him were of no joke either, as he had plenty of stories about those he traveled with, and occasionally fought alongside against whatever was attacking them at the time. Most of them were familiar legends from my world, such as Robin Hood, Hercules, and Daedalus, though all with their own in-worldly spins on their histories. In this world, Robin Hood was Talon Cowl, Hercules was Titan and Daedalus was Ruka, with each and every hero having distinctively different abilities and backstories, with Ruka in particular being a king filolial. All in all, the historian seemed to be quite the lovely guy to chat with.

That being said, the mood was ruined a bit when he finally questioned me. "So, what precisely happened that led you to quitting, Shield Hero? And what brought you back into action?"

I cringed a bit in memory of what happened. "It was a mess. First, somebody was out to ruin my reputation by saying I didn't know anything about this world. Then nobody came forth to join my party, and once I had announced that there was a princess that was going to manipulate us..."

Luek simply nodded, as he ate a nutritious, cheap meal. "And so the other heroes are fine with it?"

"After they rejected the royalty and nobles altogether due to letting the princess join one of our parties anonymously, I heard something about a church having fallen apart in a matter of days, and the King being laughed at for having instantly ruined Melromarc's relations with us." I continued on after taking a bite of my food, feeling slightly bad for Luek having a worse off meal. "The heroes still encourage me to try and fight, despite me having a class that cannot attack. From what I hear, the Queen has been having a super hard time dealing with the other countries after that, as they're also trying to recruit the ones they're supposed to get into their countries."

Luek simply nodded in sympathy, as he writes it down. "Shield Heroes are often killed off via isolation from outside help. Considering the relations between Siltvelt, Shieldfrieden, and Melromarc, the King was probably intended to do precisely that, yet failed due to the mistake of trusting his overly pampered daughter."

"I don't think Malty was going to try and manipulate us all." I said whilst shaking my head. "I think it's just a rather unfortunate circumstance on her part. Maybe she could've been nice, and wanted to keep her identity secret until she looked like she was able to help us?"

"Never trust nobility, young Naofumi." Luek said in turn. "Politics will always try to stick a knife in your back, no matter the situation. I wouldn't doubt for a second that even the Queen is up to no good."

I couldn't help but frown at that. "That's a rather rude thing to say, since the Queen is currently looking out for her country."

Luek simply grunted in response, as he finishes his meal. He then gets up, and pays the tab. "I'll allow you two to have some private time together here. I shall prepare for the journey ahead."

I watched with Raphtalia as Luek left the area. I couldn't help but ponder precisely what he was getting that needed him to be elsewhere, however seeing that Raphtalia and I still had some food left, we decided to chat with each other.

"So," I started off, gazing into Raphtalia's eyes from across the table. She seemed to be a bit nervous as she stopped digging into her meal, swiftly downing some water before I continued. "What's happened to you? Had a lot of owners who would torture you?"

"I had some, yeah." Raphtalia said, seeming a lot more downcast at my inquiry. "It was the first wave that did it though."

"First wave?" I couldn't help but ask, surprised at the sudden mention of what came before us. "You mean we were only summoned after it?"

She seemed to pause at that for a moment. "My p-parents... they sacrificed themselves to save me. I wanted to try and rebuild the village... but then we were all captured."

"...I'm sorry we couldn't come sooner."

"It's alright, honestly..." She then went into a small coughing fit. "I-if what Luek said was true... then Idol Rapier's actions must've been found out, and justice served. The church wouldn't have been able to hide what he's done."

"A bad man?"

"He thought killing you would've guaranteed him a place in heaven, and tortured demi-humans for his own amusement. Tortured Keel and Rifana like... like..." Raphtalia looked down at her food, clenching the fork in grief and rage, before relaxing her grip. "He wouldn't have been able to do it. Even at your current level you would've been able to handle him easily."

I grit my teeth as my mind wandered too to how many he must've killed for his perverse pleasure. Dozens? Over hundreds? Whatever the case, what happened in the courtroom had unknowingly saved and helped many lives that day... now if only the country wasn't racist towards demi-humans, because then I would've been able to count this as an absolute win.

I noticed as my thoughts ran rampant, that Raphtalia was beginning to cry a bit. Seeing as she needed some comfort, I went over to her side and gave her a hug. She cried into my side for a nice long while as I sat with her. All the while, my own newfound hatred towards how this world was mistreating not only me, but even towards those who were nothing but kids, felt like a tornado of flame inside of me. There was little doubt in my mind that she didn't even have her purity because of that man; and yet there was nothing I could do about it.

But she reminded me of them. How I had left my own parents behind so suddenly. Sure, they had little reason to care about me since I was little else but an otaku, but I got my brother out of the wrong crowd. They're bound to forever wonder where I am, especially him.

I kept myself from laughing in bitterness at the memory, if only to keep Raphtalia from misunderstanding me here. When my mom said I get too immersed in manga and books, I never thought it would've wound up like this.

As we stayed there for a while longer, I noticed that the other three heroes had just came through the front door. Motoyasu was talking about how much of a hassle his party was, even though they're immensely hot and cute, of which he made light of. Ren was distant as usual, and Itsuki kept on talking about how he was going to take down a corrupt lord of a region. When they finally noticed me, the three of them paused at the scene before them, as they stared at my newfound companion.

Motoyasu in particular was glaring at me with suspicion. "Why's she crying?"

"Bad memories." I said as I held her close, her attempting to jump out and show she's fine as to not ruin my rep. "We got to talking about the night terrors she's been having. First wave."

Motoyasu noticeably relaxed, as did Itsuki and Ren. "Well, you don't mind if we join for a little meeting again?" Motoyasu then asked with a smile on his face, as he went back into 'big bro' mode.

"Since you'd been sitting around for a while, we've been thinking you might've been playing around with the system, seeing what else it has." Ren also pitched in his thoughts.

"Ummmm... you mean you guys never read the manual?"

"There was a manual?" Itsuki then opened up his screen to find the help section. His eyes widened in surprise, as the others looked as well. "Huh... never knew about that."

"At least this teleporting thing will allow us to properly prepare with whatever soldiers decided to work with us." Motoyasu commented as he quickly skimmed through the help section for info, before getting out of his screen. "Well, that aside I'd first off like to ask about the girl you got with you. She's dressed rather unkempt, don't you think?" True to Motoyasu's word, I noticed that I hadn't properly brushed her hair.

I sighed as I scratched my temples. "I legit just got into it today."

"Into what?" Ren inquired, curious as to what I meant by that.

"Well see, I just got into a rather bad scenario on my end, and it's kind of going to be forcing me into fighting... y'know?"

I let the pause hang in the air for a moment, before everyone at the table got what I meant. Before the others could get a chance to respond, Raphtalia almost immediately piped up. "Wait, you mean you're fighting the waves because you're in debt?!"

"Well I never said I was-"

"Well, I could see why she has a dagger then." Motoyasu noted as he had looked over to see the dagger strapped to her thigh. "Still, you couldn't have just asked some townsfolk around here?"

"In his defense, Naofumi kinda got a rep as a hero who quit too early on, so the townsfolk might not be open to casting away their lives to fight the waves." Ren stated as matter of fact, as he dug around in his inventory. "I have a few weapons for her to use that might be better than that pole."

"Personally I think a bow of sorts would suit her better..." Itsuki said as he dug in his own. "Such a small thing would work best with that."

"H-hey! Why are we all so okay with a little girl fighting the waves?" Motoyasu then commented, not at all happy with how Raphtalia has to be the one fighting.

From there on out, the conversation had heated up to a small argument, as they then fought over what weapons should Raphtalia really be using. She meanwhile was looking at me with the most incredulous look, as if surprised that was the whole reason. "Naofumi, are you really..."

"That slave trader guy pulled a nasty one on me." I muttered in distaste, as I recalled the events that lead up to this. How was I supposed to react when he came out of the alleyway with 150 gold worth of legitimate merchandise out of the blue? "Almost like he planned all this before we even met to the very detail."

"I-I see... so you're just going retire when the debt is cleared?" She seemed kind of relieved at the fact she doesn't have to fight all the waves, though slightly disappointed in me not wanting to continue fighting.

I hummed in thought, as I considered how long this is going to take. "Probably not."

"Eh? So we're just going to keep fighting?"

"Well, it's more like I'll still be unable to." I couldn't help but shrug. "After so much struggle trying to clear it, we'd probably be too high a level to excuse ourselves from the fighting, and even then I'd probably come to miss working with everyone. It's like how army soldiers miss being in the heat of the moment, you know?"

"Except we don't work for the King anymore." Raphtalia noted with a nod, and smiled a bit. "I think... I think I'd have to agree with you on this. It wouldn't feel right for me, either if it goes on too long."

Once the argument had finally dispersed, we went back to talking after Raphtalia gained herself a shortsword from Ren that was only slightly heavier than the low quality dagger, though of course the issue here was that it was longer. They told me about the weapon copy skill, and what places to visit for extra powerful shields for me to use, and in turn I told them about my crafting system. This then led to a conversation in regards as to how we all do things, of which they then proceeded to argue on whether or not it was best to level up certain weapons, focus on elevating stats, or level up the weapon by giving it a variety of materials from monsters. The conversation was beginning to get quite childish at this point, so I excused myself from the table by saying I had to get an early start in the morning for my mercenary work. They simply nodded, and continued on talking about the weapons themselves after handing me small portions of their own money to help get me and Raphtalia some armor, of which was actually rather big for me since I hardly even managed to get a total of 160 silvers.

By the time I exited the tavern, Luek was back and was ready to pay the tab and get moving. That was, until he saw my face, and after studying it for a moment he made a quick deduction. "I gather the heroes are in there?"

"Go ahead and knock yourself out getting their sides of what happened." I said as I pointed to the still bickering group. "Maybe you could get them to stop acting like kids for a few moments for an answer."

"Their stories aren't worth the time." Luek waved off the idea, continuing to lead us on without another word. "Lets get equipped and rested. You two have a long road ahead, and I'd hope this legend wouldn't be one that decides to fall flat again."

* * *

"My findings indicate this shop in particular is the most viable choice." Luek said as he opened the door to a rather humble looking weapons shop, though the weapons themselves were anything but ordinary. Swords, maces, axes, and other things of the sort that screamed powerful from their very appearance laid dormant in their weapon stands, waiting for a user to pick them up and use them for their purpose. Various shields and armor adorned the walls, and a middle-aged man with scars on almost every part of his body with a beard was standing at the desk in front of us.

He looked up to greet us with a small smile, while we were too distracted looking at everything, save for Luek who simply stared ahead. "Welcome. Your first time in a weapon shop I presume? You sure know how to pick 'em." As we turned to look at him, we noticed that his eyes fell upon Luek. His smile disappeared, as he regarded him. "Luek."

"Erhard." Luek regarded him in return.

"I'd wager you brought them here?"

"If only because you're more competent than I in this craft. You left us for that blacksmith after all."

They stared at each other for a bit, before they seemingly forgot about each other, and Erhard took his focus to us. "So, what'll it be you two?"

"A chainmail and a breastplate would be nice." I said, as I looked through the money they gave me, quickly recounting it. I had enough left for an iron dagger of my own, so I decided to ask. "Anything of that between a range of 160 silvers? Oh, and a dagger for me to use as well."

"Can't do that, Naofumi." Luek said almost immediately, causing me to turn to him in confusion. When he noticed, he swiftly answered. "Summoned heroes are cursed to use only their weapon, according to the ancient texts. It's why you cannot get rid of your shield."

"I can't?"

"You seriously never tried taking it off before bed?"

I then tried to throw away the shield I had on. Sure enough, it glowed with light, and in just a few seconds, it was gone, back on my hand again. "Dang... so I really need others to fight for me."

Luek then turned back to Erhard. "You needn't worry about me abusing the system to keep them low. I'm merely recording their adventure, as their start is quite unlike any hero thus far."

I turned to look at Luek. "Is that so...?"

"Indeed. Why, not only were all four of you summoned at once, an event that only happened a few times in the course of this world's history, but you also quit. Such cases would be Shield Hero Rogers, whom arrived with Edward, Johnathan, and Janet, those of which being Bow, Sword, and Spear respectively, along with a few other groups, but even then not a single hero had quit thus far. Not even the great warrior Zavala, the hammer of Rogers, completely gave up, despite constantly wanting to live a normal life."

I paused as I looked at him, bewildered by how familiar those names were. He turned to look at me. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"That sounds like the middle names of all the founding Avengers, with the exception of Hulk."

"Ah, the Knuckles Hero! So the book had told you about him too, hm?"

Apparently from there I had opened a large can of worms, as while Erhard was getting measurements for me and Raphtalia, we got an earful from Luek about those summoned heroes. All the while I just couldn't refuse the information, as the ball he had on the conversation would just keep going and going until Erhard had to interrupt, probably to save us from the headache that was going to come. "Luek, as much as they'd like to listen you prattle on about old books again, don't they have an adventure to do?"

Luek looked at Erhard as if offended, before finally realizing the lost looks on our faces. He crossed his arms and went silent.

"Well, best I can offer ya two would be an iron dagger and chainmail. Dagger for the little lady in case she's lost her sword, and chainmail." Erhard said as he put the items on the counter. "She can't have armor yet because she'll outgrow it quickly. And the dagger is because she's not able to use a sword just yet, dunno who's the idiot who gave that to her."

"It is kinda heavy..." Raphtalia sheepishly said, holding the scabbard up with her left hand as it was already close to the floor, despite being on her hip.

...On retrospect, maybe that sword I got from Ren should've just went in my inventory.

"Now... just one last thing." I said, as I neared one of the shields in the shop, one of the best looking ones in particular. I followed their instructions to the letter in regards as to how to use the weapon copy skill, and sure enough...

**SKILL COPIED:SHADOWSTEEL SHIELD**

...Probably should avoid telling Erhard about this right about now, as I'd get angry too if someone copy and pasted my stuff. But it's for the challenges ahead.

I went about the shop while Erhard looked at me with a raised brow, me making sure I didn't equip the shields I was technically stealing in the slightest. "What are you doing?"

"Just inspecting other options. I think I might have a bit of silver left..."

"Some of them actually cost gold... but I guess it's okay to look as long as you don't damage them kid."

I'll pay you back for this Erhard. Even though I'm in so much debt that buying a small house of my own would be a dream, I'll come back and pay for each and every one of these shields I've copied.

* * *

**Never expected this to gain the traction it did, but here we are.**

**Sorry for the late review response here, I had a hard time sleeping for a while and forgot to do what I usually do. So, here we go!**

Victor John Foxfire:Heh, so Naofumi is gonna get a Crash Course in Demi-Human Biology, and I doubt he'll have the excuse of depression to blind him from Raphtalia's growth this time... Especially since Naofumi also treated her like a daughter in Canon, and Raphtalia STILL wanted to get into his pants anyway!

**And Naofumi will still be oblivious. :3**

SETHRX7:One-shot with potential to be new series. Very nice job and actually an original idea. Not even once I've seen fic with this setup so I'm very curious about possible continuation.

**Like I said early on in the responses, I never expected this to go as far as it did. T'was mainly just a joke as I saw that Naofumi was told about things. Not that I blame him for not remembering details, but he definitely could've had the potential to outright deflect the whole beginning plot of the series.**

drmcgraw186:like the set up with the other heroes backing him while up on the party selection and accepting walking away from the roll he was put in (also how they are wise enough not to just accept the king view on thing, working to save the world but not being a tool for the kingdom

I see Naofumi and Raphtalia having a similar set up as cannon except now they be mercenary merchants doing odd jobs and selling goods, and even though he doesn't register at the dragon hourglass he still end up at the waves due to bad luck (good luck? or destiny) he fight and saves the villages

**On note of the other heroes, they're not gonna differ much from here on out. It wouldn't be a fanfiction if I didn't stay somewhat true to the canon material, after all.**

**You can expect Motoyasu to not be such a butt, though. And for the curse series to go to different heroes, due to lack of Malty's influence. (I'll let you guys figure out which curse series is going to who now).**

Shield Bro:the one about party tricks seems hard to place... Pinkie Pie or Aqua? Probably Aqua since she's a priest, and priests heal.

**It's Aqua. I have never watched MLP.**

umbreonblue: Prediction:L'Arc would be curious about the hero who quit.

**Yep, got that right!**

umbreonblue:...and cuz of that curiosity, he talks more with Naofumi. Naofumi's interested in him too since he feels different from everyone else.

**There'd be small curiosity, but nothing of note. Just curiosity as to why he quit being a hero.**

**Thanks for all of the support thus far everyone! I have other on-going works atm and college, so I cannot promise I'll be able to update on a consistent 2-week basis. However, I shall still try my best in ensuring you all get another chapter before we get to the 3rd week.**

**Hope to see you all next chapter! Remember your protection!**


	3. Hunting Wabbits

"I mean, I get that you can take care of yourself, especially since you out level us... but shouldn't you do something about the balloons on you?"

After only a day of grinding, I have reached at least level 5, while Raphtalia was now level 3. It took some nudging from both me and Luek, but eventually she was finally able to bring herself to start attacking balloons at the most. Luek only ensured that he kept an eye on our progress, ensuring us that he'd only step in if our lives were in danger, though only if the enemy was grossly overpowered. Meanwhile, Luek was doing what I was already doing when I left the employ of Melromarc, as Raphtalia continued to kill off as many balloons as possible.

Despite having a sword of magic, from what he described to me to be basically a non-lethal lightsaber. And a dagger as well, just to finish the enemy off.

"Their damage is powerful enough to outweigh my HP regeneration." Luek casually explained a balloon chewed on his groin while he wrote in his book in regards to our progress. "Honestly? I'm surprised you lot aren't taking the free XP yet. I would've."

"I mean, it's not that we wouldn't want to, but um..." I pointed out the aforementioned balloon as I tanked all the hits for Raphtalia, who was more focused on killing all of the balloons. It was honestly quite astonishing how she transformed from being hesitant to even attack a regular balloon, to cutting through all the regular forest creatures at the edge of the forest as if it were her job. Though by edge of the forest, I meant the very edge of the forest... Luek did nothing to help us get past the first dozen treelines, and even with Raphtalia being a decent level of 3 we weren't that far deep inside the forest yet.

"Kill it then." Luek shot back flatly. "We wouldn't want it getting in the way of the five rabbit pelts we need to acquire once we make our way to more rural pastures. And we still need Raphtalia to overcome her reluctance towards fighting."

I couldn't help but stare at him incredulously. It almost seems like the guy didn't have one to begin with!

It was then that Luek spotted something behind me, and drew his mana sword. "Speaking of things to fight..." He walked past me, and I turned around to see a group of men that were standing up from the bushes. They were armed and had the amulets from the trial.

"Who are these guys?" I couldn't help but raise an eyebrow, as I readied my shield. Raphtalia turned and noticed as well. Her tail fuzzed up, and she tensed as if getting ready to run.

"History is being made here," Luek said to the men, as he waved them away. "Shoo, sycophants."

"FOR OUR LORD!" One of the men cried out, before charging straight at Luek.

Luek simply waited for them to come close as the two of us prepared to run, before he lunged with his mana sword active, slicing through the men with terrifying elegance. Within seconds, they fell to the ground, as if unconscious, their bodies covered in sweat.

"Holy sh-" I couldn't help but let out at how quick the battle was, taking a few steps back. "What the heck did you do?!"

Luek turned to me with no blood on his being. "I should clarify then: Magic swords meant to harm the immaterial do not harm physical beings, nor can physical objects be damaged by them. Instead, it harms their mental state depending on the severity of the locations hit. I merely knocked them unconscious by overloading their brains." He then looked to Raphtalia expectantly. "Well? Go on. They're going to waste the rest of their lives hunting us anyhow, if the forest doesn't kill them."

Raphtalia paled at the notion. She looked to me, as if for confirmation.

"...I'm not comfortable with getting blood of actual people on my hands. Nor is she." I said with a shake of my head. "Sorry, we'll just be sticking it to the monsters."

"...Hmph." Luek said as he got back behind us, with Raphtalia noticeably relaxing but knowing of what she still has to do. "Always so merciful despite the world being against you lot. You should come to learn that mercy isn't an option in a world of calamity."

"That reminds me," I said as we instead got a move on, deciding to not follow up on his view towards the world. "Where do we sign up for these waves that are hitting Melromarc? Or the other nations? ...Actually, how are the other nations fairing?"

"The Dragon Hour Glass. There's one at every capital, though there are some scattered about the wilderness in hiding. It has nothing to do with actual dragons though, it's just named to symbolize calamity to my knowledge. Not the field I specialize in, as it is probably more cultural than it is actually historical." Luek explained. "As for the other nations? Shieldfrueden has been handling the waves just fine, with Siltvelt only having minor issues. There are also just too many heroic bloodlines in Faubley for them to even remotely struggle, along with Zeltoble's oligarchy making it the most vibrant, yet disorganized nation out there."

I raised an eyebrow at what he said about Faubley.

"In other words, Faubley a country that loves the idea of marrying summoned heroes. So if you ever feel like retiring into a massive 70 harem mass of princesses-"

"I think I'll pass on that as Motoyasu already beat me to it." I quickly said, wanting to change the subject as I blushed at the notion. I wasn't very interested in sticking it in a bunch of girls who'd fight over me. "So why is Melromarc the only one struggling?"

"Ironically enough, it's because of all the wars they've had with the other nations, poor guidance to heroes, and deciding to accept the extremist religion faction known as The Three Heroes Church that self-abolished because of your actions, doing everything they can to be the polar opposite of Siltvelt. They've been at a pointless battle towards Siltvelt for ages, and it wasn't until the advent of the current queen Mirelia Melromarc that things were finally looking up around here." Luek explained, as he then began to prattle on about events that happened between Siltvelt and Melromarc.

I myself had tuned out around the time he started talking about the Queen, thinking back to the trial once more. In retrospect, my evidence was kind of flimsy, and a princess who we don't know that is out to manipulate us was too vague to pin down. I don't even know why I didn't specifically call out Malty since I knew the princess was red-haired, though I wouldn't have any reason to complain much since it worked out in my favor. Then again, it could've also been any other nations with red-haired princesses, right?

"Master Naofumi?"

I looked at Raphtalia. "I thought I told you to drop that?"

She blushed in embarrassment. "S-sorry. It's just that it looks like you have something on your mind."

I sighed, as I couldn't help but feel slightly guilty about causing such a mess, though the relief of having taken down a radical organization made me feel assured that if anything, I helped the nation. "Perhaps things would've gone better though if I slept instead of forcing myself up to use all my future knowledge." I couldn't help but say aloud, as I closed my eyes.

"I would go in-depth on how silly the whole thing is between Siltvelt and Melromarc, but we have more important things to do. Like, say, the bunny that has been chewing on my neck."

"Eh?" Looking behind him, I saw that indeed, a bunny had been chewing on Luek's neck

"It's good timing too since this isn't a human creature," Luek said as he got it off of his back, before throwing it at Raphtalia with a grin on his face.

I jump in front of Raphtalia and swiftly blocked it, causing it to bounce off my shield. The rabbit fell to the ground, dazed for a second, before getting up and lunging at us again, though this time I slammed it into the ground, and managed to catch it in a choke grip. "Luek, what the heck?!"

"the heck" Indeed. Those were the words of the Zulu Chief Goza in the Siltvelt region when one of his allies stepped onto his territory with over a thousand warriors. When there was obviously a rebellion that wasn't going away any time soon directed towards the chief itself, as he remained too busy assisting the current Shield Hero in the war to pay attention." Luek explained using some piece of history of this world. He then looked to Raphtalia, who just stood still in shock. "Well? Go on. Help your master."

"B-but it'll bleed if I do." Raphtalia protested. "Can't you just-"

Before she could go on, Raphtalia's slave seal activated, causing her to go to her knees and grimace in pain.

"R-raphtalia!" I called out to her, before looking at Luek with a glare. "Dude, just stab it yourself! She's just not ready yet to-"

"I believe your master made it clear when you two first started, no?" Luek said as he walked up to Raphtalia. "You may not be fighting just these low levels after this. You are duty-bound to help him unless you prefer hiding like a pacifist. And I can assure you, those kinds do not get to live long with the waves to come, especially those of your current status."

A pause of realization finally hit Raphtalia, as Luek pulled her back up. "Go on. Spill the blood. Serve your guardian, your hero, as he serves and protects you."

Raphtalia hesitated once more, as she looked at the dagger in her hands. Then, with a look of determination, she charged forth. Seeing as she was finally going to attack, I held it out in front of her and let the knife land. The bunny cried out in pain as the dagger plunged into its stomach, gore splattering both me and Raphtalia as Luek watched from afar, unperturbed. As Raphtalia pulled out the knife, Luek casually walked up to us both, with Raphtalia's level reaching Lvl 3.

"Naofumi is a shield hero. His main attribute will always be defense, even if he trains his hardest to have a good offense. In truth, he is, and always will be, a star that doesn't shine without others." Luek explained, before stopping at Raphtalia, who looked at her bloodied outfit and hands before feeling his hand on her shoulder. "Young lady, you have now dedicated yourself to being a part of this reality's history, as many demi-humans have before you. If you're not hoping for your parents to be proud of you, be proud of yourself."

I wiped the blood off my face with my shield, as I then looked at the bunny, before looking back to see Raphtalia mixed between delight and sadness at Luek's praise. "That still wasn't nice of you though."

"Tell me something I've never heard before, please. I get you're from another world, but I've collected quite a long history of more degrading comebacks." Luek said as he took the rabbit from me, skinning it. Once he was finished, he looked back to us as if nothing was wrong. Then Raphtalia coughed. "Oh yes, and get to making more medicine for your sword here."

I felt an eye twitch at his utter callousness to everything. Out of all other things I could get stuck within a light novel such as this, I get stuck with a historian who's just an arse and is a total know-it-all. And all because a skimmed a seemingly innocent book. Wonderful.

I continued collecting herbs for Raphtalia as Luek continued to body-block any and all enemies while we traveled, not staying too far away from each other. It seemed to be as time went on, that the religion that was once present at the trial was now little more than bandits, as they came at us time and time again. Every time it happened, Raphtalia would attempt to attack them, but instead of letting her gain EXP, Luek simply knocked them out time and time again, while also preventing Raphtalia from killing them. With his new reasoning being that 'Your test of will is done, now a test of morals.'. The guy was honestly beginning to get on my nerves, but I needed him to clarify things in the world so I don't look like an idiot. Though I guess he did have a point, as those guys were probably raised to think we're the bad guys. Hmm...

"So why is it we're still getting assassins after us?" I couldn't help but ask. "Didn't the church of the three essentially fall apart?"

"You underestimate the blind determination of the radicals." Luek started off his explanation. "While you were out living as a civilian, the church of the three heroes did break apart, yes. However, a radical religion does not just fall apart so easily, as have many in the past. Once the brainwashing has settled in, a decent size of any community who's is dying out will fight it to the end, perhaps seeing it as a warning to try harder, or knowing they could recover from it. While most often they're the people that stayed there the longest, such a thing could be a force to be reckoned with, as they inevitably become a terrorist group. If you think about it, these sorts of things are quite... revolting, to say the least."

I raised an eyebrow at that. "You seemed to be mixed about it."

"From a logical level, I see these sort of people as imbeciles who cannot adapt or accept their new situation, much like how a spoiled child cannot function well outside of his or her family." Luek shrugged. "Emotional level is roughly the same, as the worst I'm afraid of in regards to those people is torture or being a constant target for them."

I sighed in annoyance, as I decided to just get a move on in order to ignore how Luek just didn't want to put the slightest effort to talk beyond the history of the world. Raphtalia and Luek followed suit, though Raphtalia was still slightly shaken up as we continued to gather herbs for Raphtalia's medicine.

"So uh... you like vegetables, Raphtalia?"

"I'd take anything I could get. Um, I prefer the food at the inn though."

"Oh good. Maybe this will go smooth then." I awkwardly rubbed the back of my head at the awkward question I raised, before checking how many herbs we had and started to craft up some medicine. Damnit, the air is so awkward after the bunny kill... and you stop looking at me while you're writing that down Luek! I know what you're thinking!

"You actually think a taste for vegetables makes it easier to take medicine?"

Okay, I was at least half-right on that, because he's still a douche! "Well, I never really liked my veggies as a kid either, so maybe?"

Aaand, Raphtalia's tail just fuzzed up. "Nope!" Yep, totally just came to the realization of what she was going to have, cause now she's running.

I quickly finished crafting the medicine as Luek caught her with ease, holding her still as her eyes widened in horror. "I never understood why children seem so eager to die to sickness with this stuff..." Luek rolled his eyes as Raphtalia continued to struggle weakly. "Just don't get sick in the first place, and you wouldn't have to take medicine."

"She kinda got stuck with-"

"Point remains about the general populace of underaged individuals."

I gave him a glare for that, before pouring some of the medicine onto a spoon, holding it in front of her. "Open up."

"Nuuu! That's going to be bitter!"

"That's an order."

* * *

Off in the distance, Ren heard the sound of a little girl crying out in protest. He backed out of his fight with a troll to turn around, looking at the source of the noise that came near the edge of the forest. He debated whether or not he should go to investigate it, or quickly finish off the troll in front of him that had been giving him a hard time.

Inevitably, he chose to ignore it, figuring Naofumi was probably somewhere near the source already. He and Raphtalia could easily handle a couple of pedos just in case it was, even at their low levels.

* * *

"That sounded like a young maiden being defiled!"

"No, it sounded like a little girl having bitter medicine." Motoyasu couldn't help but snark at Blake, who's machoism was beginning to show at the thought of being defiled in some girl's place, as both were completely oblivious to what was really going on. "Of course she's in trouble, Blake! And stop fantasizing about it!"

"Motoyasu, for such a man to be doing this at the edge of a forest... as a crusader, I cannot just sit idly by and just let such a vile thing happen!"

"That's literally because you want it to happen to you instead!" Motoyasu then pointed to Tora, who laid on the ground peacefully after having blown up a huge monster whose tendrils were sprawled across the field. "Besides, you can't even hit anything, and Tora is down for the count!"

"I'm not really down for the count. Just magically drained. Please pick me up."

"What do you mean pick you-" Motoyasu turned around to see Cecil, who was idly drinking out of a wine bottle. At the ensuing silence, Cecil stopped what she was doing to look at Motoyasu.

"This is a spare I bought for myself, I swear."

* * *

_***crawls out of the grave, thunder cracking in the background.* **_**I'm alive... I'M ALIVE!**

_***ahem***_** Right, reviews. Sorry for the wait by the way, I make screenplays and handle college on the side.**

M.J.A. Night:Ok the reason for the debt is bullshit. He's in debt for not becoming a slave.

**I'm still trying to work out the kinks of making this no longer a one-shot. I've spent a lot of my time trying to figure out how to make the first chapter work out better, as well as improve on writing Raphtalia and Naofumi to match their incognizant personas. Hopefully the newly updated first chapter proves a more valid reason?**

SETHRX7:I really like that idea that help menu actually tell about basic functions of holly weapons. I'm also curious if there will be anything more about weapon upgrade system. From what I understood, everything was more or less based on faith(knowledge) of the user.

**It still works in the same sense as what it does in the series, just that Naofumi introduces it to them earlier on. I'm still researching the franchise for ways I could spin-off the weapon system, currently trying my best by reading web novel(Light Novel isn't available at the moment for me...)**

Guest:I suppose Filo will be obtained as well? Can't leave the little queen an egg forever.

**Yes, she will still be here.**

koneko-chan:This story goes in an interesting direction. I wonder if you are going to add any other OC or are you going to enlarge the shield hero group.

I hope this is not the end of problems with the king and his problematic daughter. The scenes of kicking their asses are always so funny.

(And I hope this fic hasn't died yet)

**Not even a political blow like that will stop their idiocy.**

**Also, I won't be adding any more OCs. I only added Luek for a variety of reasons. What they are, I cannot disclose, but let's just say a mark on history tends to be quite noticeable.**

**Sorry for the long wait, everyone. I'll try to get back to my regular schedule, but at this rate my screenplays will be taking priority. What they are, I cannot state beyond it being non-fanfiction material.**

**See you all next chapter.**


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